More Thoughts on the Taurus Derp Gun

(Earlier posts)

Another thought came to mind about the Derp Gun:*  It doesn't look that much like a gun. It kinda sorta looks like a pepper spray (or other gas) projector.  And that might get people shot.

One of the good things about a traditional gun is that it looks like a gun.  The bad guy who you've had to draw on knows that you have a gun and it's pointed at him.  A lot of bad guys have a deep-seated aversion to contracting a sudden case of bullet wounds, which is why confrontations often end with the miscreant beating feet.

If, on the other hand, the bad guy doesn't recognize your gun as a gun, you might end up having to shoot him.  Which, for you, isn't exactly a good outcome (though better than what it could be). Better for you if he runs away.**
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* Writing three posts about a gun that is a toolroom prototype might seem a bit much, I suppose. But a term such as "Derp Gun". is too much fun not to use.
** If he shits his pants and screams, even better.

Taurus Derp Gun

A review of the Taurus Curve: In shot: Inaccurate, recoil is bothersome (this to the reviewer, a woman who carries a .45), impossible to draw quickly and good luck to you if you need to switch magazines quickly.

Also, Taurus had to recall a mess of them because they forgot to stamp the caliber on the gun. You might feel like questioning the efficacy of Taurus's quality control/assurance* department.

(I've had a few things to say about the gun. And no, I'm not getting one, unless somebody gives it to me free for evaluation.)
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* Whatever the term du jour is.

Taurus Derp Gun, or "Why Be Skeptical?"

One of the "selected gun writers" who got to go on a boondoggle to shoot a pre-prototype version of the Taurus Curve published his review.

"Fawning" isn't the term I'd use. More like "fellating". The reviewer got to shoot a pre-production prototype on a "video range" and he said he had no problem shooting 12" video plates at seven yards.

Right. As opposed to shooting at real targets? Why do I suspect that he could have fired the thing at his foot and Taurus's range would have said the equivalent of "nice shot, me boy"?

The other thing is that the gunwriters seem to have the short-term memories of end-stage Alzheimer's patients. Do they not remember the debacle surrounding the Remington R51; a gun which the gunwriters fell over themselves to praise when they got to coonfinger and shoot the pre-production models in 2013? Don't they remember that the production guns were so fucked up that Remington recalled all of them?

The professional gunwriters also similarly fawned over the Colt All-American 2000, which was yet another gun that didn't make the translation from toolroom prototype to production model. With a bit of searching, I'll bet that you can easily find other examples-- anyone remember the Bren Ten?

I'll stand by what I wrote a week ago.

The Taurus Derp Gun at a Match

Some years ago, I wrote about the Taurus Curve.

Ian McCollum bought one, cheap, and took it it a Backup Gun Match.  The results were what one might have expected:

Taurus Plumbs the Depths of Derp

Their idea is a curved pistol to better fit the bodies of right-handed shooters. In the "professional gun press", expect to read the usual laudatory reviews (given to most advertisers).

The gun has no sights. The end of the barrel is apparently cut at an angle, which usually plays hob with accuracy, but what the hell, the damn gun has no sights. Taurus painted a crosshair on the back of the gun so you can do what, I don't know. The G&A article claims that accuracy is OK, because they can keep it on minute of thug at five yards. A S&W Airweight can do much better at longer range and it's probably a dollars-to-doughnuts bet that a professional gunwriter can shoot better than me.

This gun must be intended for those who felt that a LCP was too bulky. Which is who, exactly?

Taurus also curved the handle of their View, a gun that seems to be unpopular as hell, given that the gun that my LGS got in last summer is still on the shelf in one of the display cases. Meanwhile, S&W Airweights and Ruger LCRs come into the store on the Brown Truck of Goodies and go out the door in the hands of their customers.

Damn, there has to be a middle ground between the gimmickry of Taurus and the ossification of Colt.

The Butthurt of the Derp Gun

Guns & Ammo got their feelings hurt when they were called out for writing a puff piece about the Taurus Curve. Their first reaction was to threaten to call in the lawyers.

But apparently, somebody senior there has heard of the Streisand Effect, and they backed down.

Reading Gun Reviews is Like Kremlinology

You have to read carefully in order to find the stuff that matters.

Case in point: Let's take a look at the July, 2018 issue of Shooting Illustrated.

This is the cover:

This is the two-page center:

These are the money paragraphs:

That, to my mind, damns the gun, regardless of all of the paragraphs about how cool it looks or all of the different choices of colors for the gun. This thing is a self-defense gun and the very last thing it should be is "very difficult to shoot well". It's a gun that, for the most part, will be bought by people who are neither gun professionals, hobbyists, nor competitive shooters. Because, to be frank, nobody who is well versed in firearms will likely care that the gun comes in a range of pretty colors. It's a gun that's supposedly made for concealed carry, for the love of Dog.

The Spectrum is being marketed to people who are not gunnies. The gun's being marketed to people who may, at the very best, put a box of ammo through it every three years. For those folks, a gun with a horrible trigger and piss-poor sights will be more of a woobie than a serious tool. For unless they are shooting at contact range, with such a lousy gun, they're just as likely to miss.

All other things being equal, a sweet trigger is the berries when it comes to accurate shooting. I'd rather have sub-optimal sights and a sweet trigger than the other way around. A horrible trigger leads to spraying-and-praying.

In short, this is Taurus's latest derp gun.

Some shit doesn't ever seem to change.